'Real life' video tales

Some pop stars will bare all, even their
souls, to sell more albums. It's all about
ego pop.

Despite the megabucks she's gleaned from her music, films, perfume and clothing designs, Jen's just gotta sing about her inner thoughts and feelings - and she's not alone.

Today's hottest music stars are climbing the charts with songs about their "real" lives. But are they baring their souls, or just marketing them?

"There seems to be a glut of it at the moment," says Sasha Perera, state promotions manager for Universal Music. "By getting a supposedly honest song, fans feel like they're getting a bit more of the artist."

Lopez's Jenny from the Block - from her album This is Me . . . Then - tells of her journey from the Bronx to Beverley Hills and features her real-life fiance, fellow superstar and actor Ben Affleck, in the accompanying video. In a dress rehearsal of sorts, the clip had Affleck proposing on bended knee to Lopez, well before their betrothal was announced.

The package was pretty compelling for celebrity junkies. "Watch my video, buy my record and you'll learn something about the real me," Lopez seems to say.");document.write("

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Rapper Eminem has long included rants at estranged family members and music rivals in his lyrics, but it took a while for the rest of gang to follow suit. Now "ego-pop" is everywhere. "These artists have been influenced by R&B hip hop," says the managing editor of music paper Inpress, Andrew Mast. He cites bragging, boasting and talking up one's "roots" as hallmarks of the genre. "But it's definitely been jumped on by marketing people. It's a backlash against manufactured stars," he says.

Justin Timberlake's Justified album, a mix of pop and grind grooves and sorrowful broken-hearted musings, was released just as fans were clamouring for the lowdown on his break-up with Britney Spears. His video for Cry Me a River even featured him stalking a dead-ringer for the southern poppet.

A song from Christina Aguilera's new album, Stripped, vents her anger at her allegedly abusive father. It's part of her quest to shed the manufactured image her early success trapped her in, she tells visitors to her website.

"What I discovered making this album is that getting across real feelings is what's important. As much as possible, I wanted to have the listener right there in the studio with me . . . What mattered was sharing what I was really going through for the first time," she writes.

Similarly, Robbie Williams recently told US music network VH1 that his song Come Undone "is where I go, 'Look, this is what I am. Don't say nasty things. It really hurts.' "

Locally, Delta Goodrem's first single, Born to Try, unveiled her as a star with talent, ambition and insecurities.

"They want you know that (Goodrem) was a singer before she was an actor, so here are these songs that prove that she's definitely got a 'deep' background," says Mast.

Admittedly, the first-person pronoun has long been part of pop music, even before the Beatles sang "How could I dance with another (ooh) when I saw her standing there". Today, though, the "I" in pop doesn't necessarily translate to the listener as "you, me, everybody". It's just as likely to refer to the singer and the singer alone.

Cynics would suggest that the modern cult of celebrity, rather than an artist's desire for self-expression, is behind the trend.

A recent study in Britain concluded that one in three Britons suffers from so-called celebrity worship syndrome.

Extreme sufferers, say University of Leicester psychologists, are prepared to lie, steal or worse for the star object of their obsession.

But this is at the extreme end of the scale, say the researchers, who studied 700 people aged between 18 and 60 and published their findings in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

At low levels, CWS may involve merely following a celebrity for entertainment and something to chat about with like-minded fans. It can be a positive hobby and create happy, optimistic feelings, study author John Maltby told the Press Association wire service.

However, he warned that "like many other behaviours, over-indulgence in one thing may not always be good for you".

In other words, celebrities walk a fine line when they drop personal tidbits into their songs; a line between encouraging stalkers and capitalising on their market share.

"As an artist gets more successful, they are thrown into a celebrity atmosphere," says Perera, whose company represents Eminem and Russian girl duo Tatu.

"I guess their retort is to try to reconnect with the public and say, 'I'm just like you', although we probably realise that they're not."

Interestingly, the British study named Kylie Minogue as one of the most frequent objects of the syndrome. This is despite the fact that I Should be so Lucky is about as close as Kylie has ever got to confessional pop lyrics.

Indeed, she occupies the opposite realm to the singer of ego-pop, baring more of her bum than her inner being. She is a changeling the public can't quite get a handle on, but loves to chase.

And what of Madonna? The original mistress of change recently entered ego-pop territory with American Life, a song in which she raps through a shopping list of servants and material possessions.

Andrew Mast says that the single, although widely panned, is part proof that the backlash against manufactured sincerity is well underway.

"It's actually one of the smartest send-ups of this whole fad, where she just raps about being rich and spoilt," he says.

"It's a direct diss on J.Lo. But it has gone horribly wrong because I don't think people got the joke."